Beautiful Goodbyes
by Icelilly
Summary: Eduard stumbles on a woman's body and is accused with a crime he didn't commit. Feeling he is no longer safe in his home country, he assumes a new identity and flees to North America where he crosses paths with a young man who is struggling to find himself and his place in the world. Human AU, EstIce. Set during the early to mid-1920s.
1. Prologue

**A/N: Something a little different, a multi-chaptered fic! It's been a lot time since I last did one and I'm pretty excited about this one. I'm stepping out of my usual comfort zone and I'm hoping for good things to come out of this story. I hope you guys will give it a chance and enjoy it just as much as I've been writing it!**

**This particular scene is just a letter of some sorts. A preview of what things are to come!**

**Legend:**  
**Eduard- Estonia**  
**Sjólfur- Iceland**

**Disclaimer: Hetalia belongs to Hidekaz Himaruya. I don't own anything but the story itself.**

* * *

_Sjólfur,_

When we met, I had never expected we would become friends. I never expected to find love. I never expected we would come this far. The last few months have been the best months I have ever lived and you helped me get to places I never thought I'd ever go.

But I haven't been as honest as I should have been.

My name isn't Eduard Pääsuke but rather Eduard Tammsaare and I didn't come here for better opportunities. I left Estonia because I am on the run from authorities in my country. I only wanted to help a dying woman in the streets but I was soon accused with a crime I never committed. I was no longer safe and I made the decision to flee my home and come here where I knew I'd never be found. Recently I received word that the man who helped me flee was arrested in Tallinn and they know where to find me. I don't want to go back and be put away for something I did not do so I have decided to run again.

Please do not be angry with me. This was the hardest choice I ever had to make. I desperately want to take you with me but I don't want you to be caught up in this. I promised your brother I would always protect you and you deserve to be happy. I could never forgive myself if I got you caught up in this mess.

Everything that I've left behind is yours. Our home, our car, our business, it's all your yours. I've left you a portion of my funds in the bank under your name. I don't need it nor do I deserve it. My only wish is for you to never look for me and that you will find someone that will make you even happier than when you were with me. I will forever carry your photo in my pocket. I'll never forget you and I will never love anyone else the same way ever again.

Ma armastan sind, Sjólfur.


	2. Eduard Tammsaare

**A/N: A look into Eduard's life before heading into the main plotline.**

**Legend:**  
**Eduard- Estonia**  
**Heino- OC; he's no one in particular and just there for plot purposes.**

**Disclaimer: Hetalia belongs to Hidekaz Himaruya. I don't own anything but the story itself.**

* * *

Eduard had a heart of gold. When someone was down on their luck, he was there. When someone needed a helping hand, he was there. There was no one he wouldn't extend his heart out to. His mother always loved that about him and described him as "a light that never stopped shining."

Eduard came from an upper-middle class family. His family was particularly wealthy and both his parents were intellectuals and nationalistic. He doesn't know much about his parents' lives. They never talked much about their past. His father was a business man and ran a factory that employed a lot of lower-class Estonians. His mother was a homemaker and Eduard was particularly fond of her. She was a strong woman who was very opinionated. The arts were prominent on her side of the family, who many worked as musicians and poets, and he learned everything there was to know about music from her. Despite her strong image, she was not well physically. She was prone to illness frequently and it posed a lot of problems especially during pregnancy. Out of the five children she bared, Eduard was the only one of his siblings that survived infancy. Three of them were stillborn.

His mother saw from an early age that her son was talented and filled with potential. She trained him every day to master piano and singing, even on days when she couldn't get out of bed. Eduard's father however had different plans. He wanted his son to take over the company when he was ready to retire but Eduard had little interest in running it. He and his father frequently butted heads a lot and his mother was always the one who tried to restore the peace in their household. But if there was anything the two men could agree on was that they were passionate about the land they came from. When the Estonian Army began recruiting soldiers to fight the Red Army, his father immediately signed up to fight. Eduard desperately wanted to fight alongside him but with his mother needing medical assistance and no one to care for her, he was forced to stay behind. The day he left for the battlefield was the last time Eduard ever saw him.

With his father gone, it meant he was forced to take on the role as the owner of his father's company. But what his father hadn't told him or his wife was that before he left for war, he had changed his will and left the company to his long-time friend and business partner. Instead he left his family with a hefty amount of money so they could live a comfortable life. Eduard used part of the money to put himself through university and earned his Bachelor's in Music. To celebrate his accomplishments, he had decided to go out and hit the clubs in hopes of meeting up with friends.

But it was that night that turned his life upside down. It was no secret that Eduard had a big heart. Most would have looked past it but he couldn't leave a woman lying there when it was clear that she needed help. Eduard had gone back to check the body. She was lying in a pool of her own blood and she was completely lifeless. But when Eduard tried to check to see if she was still breathing, the police had arrived and assumed he was her attacker. The situation did not help when he realized his hands were covered in her blood. Trying to reason with them proved to be useless and in a panic he began to run from the scene. He was quickly followed by authorities on foot but he had eventually lost them after several minutes of running and taking cover in an abandoned building. He looked down at his hands and burst into tears. Eduard was terrified and had no idea what to do. The police assumed he was guilty and knew there was no way to prove his innocence. He walked alone and didn't even make it to any dance clubs when he had found the body. Her blood was on his hands and they had every right to believe he was the guilty one. Eduard knew he was no longer safe especially when the officers had seen his face. He ran straight for home and washed the blood off his hands. When he explained what had happened to his mother, she was determined to protect her only son and made some phone calls. She believed that the only way for her son to be safe, he would have to leave the country. She did not trust the police especially with the chief who the family had problems with in the past. There was no way she was going to send her son away when she knew he was not guilty of the crime.

Since the incident, Eduard had gone into hiding at his home. He struggled to sleep and began getting nightmares. Whenever the police would arrive at their home, he would hide in the cellar where his father's workshop was located. By the end of the second week, his mother's pleas and demands were secretly granted. A family friend named Heino who worked high within the government pulled some strings and Eduard was given an envelope with papers, including a birth certificate and passport, that assured him that he could escape the country.

"I thought I had requested to have the name changed to "Paavo Saar?" These documents say "Eduard Pääsuke" instead."

"Trust me, you don't want that name. It's recently come to light that two brothers, Paavo and Eduard Saar, are wanted in Haapsalu for robbery and kidnapping and are believed to have fled to Sweden. If you're going to escape the country, you're not going to want those names. There are many men in this country with your given name so you should be okay. It's your surname that is more troubling since it's so well-known around these parts."

That night Eduard and his mother said their goodbyes. He tried not to cry but his mother held him tightly and rubbed his back. She tried to assure him that she would be okay on her own but it's not enough to keep him from crying on her shoulder. She promised that she would keep in contact with him and that she'll keep sending over money, on top of the large amount he was taking with him, so that he could continue living a carefree lifestyle. Eduard kissed his mother on the cheek and got inside Heino's car and waved good-bye as he drove away.

"Have you decided where you want to go?"

"West," he replies.

"You mean America? You know you might not get in right?"

"I'll take my chances. They won't find me there."

When Heino and Eduard arrived at the docks, he advised that he take a ship to Stockholm and grab the first ocean liner to that headed to North America. He assured him that he would keep in contact with him by using a fake name in his letters. Eduard in return thanked him for his help and asked that he'd keep an eye out on his mother for him. Heino promised that he will do all that he can to protect her and keep her safe.

And so off Eduard went with his two suitcases. He boarded a ship to Stockholm, just as Heino told him to. In a few hours he had landed and quickly tried to get information on any ships heading across the Atlantic Ocean. He discovered that there wouldn't be any more ships to America for another three days but a boat was leaving in the morning to Canada. Eduard hadn't thought about going to Canada but should any problems arise, he could always travel by horse or car and go south into America. He decided to go for it and bought a one-way ticket. However he now needed a place to stay and went looking for a hotel. There was one not far from the docks and it was less expensive than he thought it would be. He booked one room for the night and when morning arrived, he made sure there early and catch his ship in time.

Eduard pulled through the two week trip from Stockholm. He landed in Halifax and was greeted by immigration officers. Now the tough part began. From what he knew, most of individuals who traveled with him in lower class sections were immigrants from Sweden and Finland. He was the only Estonian on board. He had heard from some of the other travelers that Northern Europeans had better chances of getting into the country than those from either Eastern or Southern Europe. That left Eduard in limbo and it was all in the hands of the officers ahead. His worries were washed away however when the officer stamped his passport. When he had presented his papers, the man looked at him with a glare but he appeared content with his documents and he was free to be in the country. Eduard was ecstatic to hear the news and he happily thanked the officer.

This country was large and vast compared to Estonia. There was a lot to see and he wasn't sure where to go. But for now, he thinks he'll hop on a train and go west. Who knows what kind of things are in store for him?


	3. Sjólfur Sveinsson

**A/N: A look into Sjólfur's life before heading into the main plotline.**

**Legend:**  
**Sjólfur- Iceland**  
**Halvard- Norway**

**Disclaimer: Hetalia belongs to Hidekaz Himaruya. I don't own anything but the story itself.**

* * *

From the time Sjólfur Sveinsson was born, he was always the apple of his brother's eye. He was like a dotting parent: always making sure he was well-dressed, groomed, had enough to eat, told him stories before bedtime, and so forth. But the two boys hadn't expected to rely on each other so early in life. When Sjólfur was nine, their father suffered a stroke and died before reaching the hospital. Halvard, who was seventeen at the time, quit upper secondary school and took a low-paying job in the fishing industry. Halvard was determined to make sure his younger brother's life would change very little under these dire circumstances. It was important to him that Sjólfur kept on going with his studies while he was the one to become the breadwinner and support the two of them.

Sjólfur and Halvard were half-brothers but Halvard loved him no less. Their father was a Norwegian professor and met his first wife while vacationing in Åmli. They married within several months of meeting, much to the distaste of her family, but it would be several more years before Halvard would be born. Their marriage would not last long. When he was just three, they divorced and his mother disappeared from his life. The last he had of her was that she started a new family with someone in Denmark. When he was seven, his father made his second wife, a young woman named Brynja. She came from a middle-class family in Iceland and came to Norway for work after she answered an ad in the local paper. She worked for his father as his personal secretary. Brynja had no interest in dating but she decided to give him a chance, after enough persuasion from letters sent by her older sisters. The two were a perfect match and they married a year later. Halvard didn't seem to mind his new stepmother and she opened her heart to him. She saw the potential in him to go far and encouraged him to focus on his education. Shortly after they married, Brynja was beginning to get homesick so his father decided to pack up their belongings and move to Iceland. Brynja was not interested in having any children and was content with having just Halvard. But several years later, their family would grow one more and Sjólfur was born. Problems however occurred during the delivery and she had lost large amounts of blood. She did not survive.

Despite not having their mother around, her side of the family remained within their lives. Her older sisters in particular were very fond of their nephews and spoiled them rotten behind their father's back. When the boys got older, their uncles decided to pack their backs and head to Canada for better opportunities and took their families with him. This left Sjólfur and Halvard without any relatives within Iceland and posed a huge problem when their father had suddenly died. Would their relatives take them in if they wrote? Would they even hear from them? What if their letters get lost in the mail on the way there or on the way back? There were many unnerving questions but the two brothers took things one step at a time and leaned on one another for comfort and support.

After nearly a month and half, they had heard back from the eldest sister and she was willing to take them in. Inside the envelope consisted of a pair of tickets for the ship ride to Halifax and some cash for food and tickets for a train ride to Winnipeg. It would be there; they would pick them up and take them back to Glimi, a town that was well-known to be filled with Icelandic immigrants. They were told to pack what they needed and not to worry about the house. They would take care of it once they got here.

Life returned to normal once they got settled in their new home. Halvard returned to school and graduated top of his class and went on to university to study medicine. Sjólfur also focused heavily on his studies. The arts were his passion but he performed exceptionally well in math and in the sciences. When he had finished school, he was given the opportunity to study physics on scholarship at the University of Toronto. He immediately jumped on the chance.

Things however would take a downward spiral for him. Sjólfur struggled to adjust to university life. He hated his major and desperate to go into the arts but switching would risk losing his scholarship and having to pay out of his own pocket, money that he didn't have. His distaste for his major began to show as the weeks progressed when the quality of his papers declined. Although he could master the material, his grades were low enough that by the end of the semester, he was at risk of being expelled. Halvard had known of his struggles through their letters and phone calls but couldn't be in person to support him. The winter semester proved to be no better. The stress had taken its toll on him and he began having problems sleeping and staying on a normal eating schedule. By spring, he was a complete mess and knew that he was going to lose his scholarship. He had flunked out of university.

Sjólfur was humiliated and embarrassed. But most importantly, he had no idea where to go at this point in his life. He had very little money and no job. His brother had tried to convince him to come back home but Sjólfur was too ashamed to face his family. With nowhere to go, he packed his belongings and decided to head to the capital. He needed a fresh start in a place he never been to, a place to reflect and think about where he wanted to go in life.

Sjólfur settled in a small town outside the capital. He rented out a tiny room at the home of an elderly woman and worked for her as her caretaker. It wasn't much but it was money in his pocket and he had a roof over his head. He's not sure where to go from here but for now, he'll stay here and do the best he can.


	4. Crossing Paths

**A/N: A shorter chapter but the story is technically starting here. :D**

**Legend:**  
**Eduard- Estonia**  
**Sjólfur- Iceland**

**Disclaimer: Hetalia belongs to Hidekaz Himaruya. I don't own anything but the story itself.**

* * *

Eduard drove through the vast fields of empty farm land and made his way home. The roads were bumpy around these parts since the road was mostly filled with dirt and gravel. He didn't seem to mind however since the scenery heading up to his tiny home made up for it.

More than a year has passed and he had adjusted to his new life fairly quickly. But he was homesick and frequently worried about his mother. He settled in a growing suburb outside the downtown core in the capital. The community was primarily French-speaking and many who lived on the outskirts of the town worked as farmers. There was a wood mill that was also one of the main employers but rumours had been circulating that the mill was going to be shutting its doors, putting a good portion of the town out of work. Eduard doesn't converse with the townspeople or partake in community activities. There are few foreigners in town and he's often given strange and intimidating glares. He doesn't think much about it however as he wants to keep his presence low key.

As he continues to drive, he sees an individual walking up ahead on the side of the road. He's a young man with silver hair, neatly dressed in a dark grey suit similar to his, and carrying two suitcases. He honks his horn to grab his attention and pulls the vehicle to a complete stop next to him.

"Hey, you look like you need a hand. Did you need a ride?" Eduard smiles. The man didn't say anything but a mere "thanks" and got inside. Once he was settled in, the man threw his suitcases in the backseat and Eduard continues on his way back into town.

"Where are you heading?" The man asks.

"Home. I live in a suburb near downtown. Is there a place you wanted me to drop you off?"

"Just in town is fine," he replied, "If you want, you can drop me off at your place and I'll be on my way."

"Do you even have a place to stay? You've got a lot of stuff back there."

He huffs, "Of course I do." The car becomes silent for a few moments and the man sighs uncomfortably, "No I don't. I was hoping to stay in a hotel but I'm short on cash so I guess I'll stay at a shelter or-"

"You can stay with me for the night," Eduard interrupted, "I've got plenty of room and I wouldn't mind the company."

"Are you always this nice to people you haven't met before? You should be more careful. I could be a criminal you wouldn't even know it."

"No offensive, but you don't look like you could even hold yourself in a fight," he laughs, "What's your name anyway?"

"Sjólfur Sveinsson," he replies.

"That's a bit of a mouthful," he laughs, "Mine is Eduard Pääsuke. Where are you from? You don't sound like you're from around here."

"I'm from a small town called Glimi in Manitoba. But I was born and raised in Iceland. What about you? You don't sound like you're from around here either," Sjólfur asked curiously.

"I'm from Estonia. I moved out here little over a year ago for better job opportunities. I've done some odd jobs here and there but I've never been able to keep anything permanent. But I'm optimistic I'll find something soon."

The ride into town was largely uneventful and they spent most it quiet after their brief exchange of words. When they arrived at Eduard's home, Sjólfur looked at it in awe. It was a newly built bungalow, complete with a beautiful front porch and a well-kept groomed garden. Surely this was not his house, he thought to himself. Eduard went into the back of his car and helped Sjólfur with his bags. The two men walked up to the door and Eduard unlocked it. When they entered, he put Sjólfur's bags up against the wall next to the entrance and left to go turn on some lights.

"Make yourself at home. It's not much but it's cozy and modern."

Modern was an understatement. His house had indoor plumbing, electricity, and even some goods that only the rich could afford. Before Sjólfur hit the road with his belongings, he was living in a house with neither of these luxuries and he had no idea how Eduard could even afford a place like this. Especially when he had just told him earlier that he was unemployed.

"Come with me, I'll show you to your room."

Sjólfur grabbed his bags and followed Eduard across the small dining area and down a small and narrow hallway. He opened the door on his left-hand side and went to turn on a lamp on a night table. The room was nicely decorated with dark-coloured wooden furniture and some items that appeared to be heirlooms from back home. The room was covered in family photographs and two twin-sized beds were up against the wall and fairly distant from each other. Each of them had their own night tables.

"This house unfortunately wasn't large enough for a guest bedroom so I turned the master into both. The one closest to the door is mine. If you're not comfortable sharing a room, I have no problems sleeping on the couch."

"No, no, it's fine. This is more than I had ever expected. I appreciate your hospitality," Sjólfur says before walking over to the other bed and placing his suitcases on top.

"I'm going to go and start dinner. If you need to wash up, there's a bathroom across the hall. Let me know if you need anything," Eduard smiles. Sjólfur thanks him and he walks off to prepare dinner. He begins unpacking some of his belongings and comes across a photo of him and his brother together, taken shortly before he had left Glimi for Toronto. He places the framed photograph on his night table and the glare of the sun setting catches his eye and briefly blinds him. He walks up to the window and takes a look at the scenery. The fields are fairly open but it's clear the area is expanding with new houses being constructed. In the distance he can see a church and the cross is poking through the top of the trees. Sjólfur feels lucky that Eduard has opened his home to him. But his problems are far from over. He has little money left, he's unemployed, and he has no home. Eduard offered to let him stay for the night but he knows he can't stay here forever. He's not sure where he'll go after all this but for now he's decided that tonight he'll be worry-free. A nice bath would do him and his feet some good.


End file.
